Romo Didn’t Know It Was Fourth Down?

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You’re a Cowboys fan. You’re confused. Angry. You don’t know why your team spent its last two snaps on offense throwing the ball to Sam Hurd, who was blanketed both times by one of the finest cornerbacks in all of football. You don’t know why Jason Witten stayed in to block on both plays. You don’t know why the team didn’t just try and run it in on 4th down, given that they have the best rushing offense in the NFL. Everything is baffling and incomprehensible and horrible.

Well, would it ease your mind if I told you there’s a perfectly good explanation as to why they threw to Hurd twice in a row? Yes? Oh, good. Would it ease your mind if I told you the reason is because Tony Romo might just be an idiot?

Following the final incomplete pass to end the Cowboys hopes, a video caught on KDFW Fox-4 shows Romo seemingly telling his linemen to line back up. He then flashes three fingers to one of the game officials.

After hearing the response, Romo screams and walks off field.

If true, Romo apparently forgot about the spike to stop the clock on second down. When asked about the series of events, coach Wade Phillips didn't know anything about a discrepancy. He said that on the sideline they knew what down it was and any questions would need to be directed at Romo.

That may not be until Wednesday or Thursday. Romo is not scheduled to talk to the media until then.

Well, in Romo’s defense, those clock-killing spikes at least FEEL like they shouldn’t cost you a down. Alas. I’ll just go ahead and predict right now that Romo tells the media he knew what down it was. The video, of course, suggests otherwise. If Romo really thought it was third down, that’s… not good. It suggests a lapse in concentration at the very worst possible time, not an unfamiliar sight when it comes to the Cowboys star QB. Perhaps Romo was concerned with other things. Perhaps he had a karaoke duet with Dennis Haskins later in the evening. Perhaps he was distracted by the fact that Jessica’s bust clearly looks to be rounding back into form. We can’t discount any of those possibilities. We also can’t discount that Romo may now suck.